Hale’iwa. A Hawaiian name, that’s for sure. But what does it mean? Where did it come from? Well, ‘iwa is the Hawaiian name for the Frigate Bird. It’s big and it’s black with a white vest and bent wings. If you’re lucky you might see one high in the sky over the sea, hunting and diving for unwary fish. If you see a flock of ‘iwa, watch out. Local Hawaiians will tell you that bad weather is coming. And hale means house. So Hale’iwa is a frigate bird’s house, or nest, found ashore, usually in a tree.
The little North Shore town of Hale’iwa got its name from missionary days, when a Christian girl’s seminary named Hale’iwa was built on Anahulu Stream, which runs under the Rainbow Bridge. Ben Dillingham took the name in 1899 when he opened the Hale’iwa Hotel, a modern Victorian style 40 room hotel that predated the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. Dillingham had run his railroad from Honolulu to the North Shore to haul sugarcane and Talking Story with Tom Jacobs pineapples into town. He wanted to haul people too, to his new hotel. His hotel needed workers and tailors and lots of other support, so a town grew up around it … “Hale’iwa Town.” So … bird’s nest to girl’s seminary to five-star hotel, to our little town.
The Hale’iwa Hotel lost its prestige to Waikiki and eventually converted to a private beach club, then to an Army officer’s recreation center during World War II. In 1952 the hotel was torn down and the Sea View Inn restaurant was built on the site, which became a Chart House. Joe Lazar reclaimed the Hale’iwa name when he reopened the restaurant as Haleiwa Joe’s. So there you have it … six Hale’iwas: the bird, the nest, the seminary, the hotel, the town, and the restaurant. Stay tuned, dear reader, for some more local “Talk Story.”